Northern Uganda is emerging from a 22 years armed conflict that has taken place since 1986. While various rebel groups participated in the rebellion, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has proved to be the most resilient and ruthless, and continues to resist the government to date. The effects of this civil war have taken their toll upon the population in Northern Uganda in various ways. About 66,000 people including children and youth believed to have been abducted and forced to fight in the rebel ranks or serve as sex slaves, while over 1.8 million people were displaced and lived in the squalid conditions of displacement camps. An estimated number of 25,000 children alone were abducted.

Since the start of the Peace Negotiations between the Government of Uganda (GoU) and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in July 2006 at Juba in South Sudan, the situation in northern Uganda and in Gulu, Amuru, Kitgum and Pader Districts (Acholi Sub region) in particular has remained fairly calm. The security situation continues to improve remarkably, despite failure of LRA highest command, in the person of Joseph Kony to sign the Final Peace Agreement (FPA) in April, May, and November 2008 respectively. The region remains calm despite the joint military campaign by the governments of Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Southern Sudan that began in mid December 2008. The current humanitarian assessment reveals that Northern Uganda is in transition from humanitarian relief into development-oriented initiatives.